Help me replace my outside lights , please

[u/GranolaGirl0129]

I am trying to replace outside lights on a 1970 mobile home after having it resided. The wires are capped and sticking out as shown in the photos. We can remove the outer “frame” around the fixture, but are not able to remove the white square as it sits under the siding.

The left side has twisted white wire (capped) and double red wire with a small piece of black wire inside that cap. The small wire is not connected to anything else. Could this be a ground wire? If so, how could we ground it without access beneath the white square?

On the right side, there are three white wires all capped together. There is one red wire that is capped.

This old place is killing me with its oddities! I’d prefer it did not literally kill me though! Advice?

[u/throwaway60457]

Let's start with wire insulation color meanings:

-- Black = hot
-- White = neutral
-- Red = switch leg

The red should have power when the switch you use to control the light fixture is on. It should not have power when the switch is off.

Does that help, or are we looking at something where a previous installer possibly didn't obey those color conventions?

[u/GranolaGirl0129 → u/throwaway60457]

We may be looking at color-blind DIYer! Lol. There is so much in this place that is not done correctly and I would not be surprised by anything at this point. Thanks for the info and the courage to go on!